Two Tournaments To Keep An Eye On This Weekend
There are quite a few tournaments taking place this weekend but two have our attention featuring teams on both sides of the state line. We like the prediction game, so let’s have at it in Blue Springs and Shawnee Mission.…
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Continue ReadingThere are quite a few tournaments taking place this weekend but two have our attention featuring teams on both sides of the state line. We like the prediction game, so let’s have at it in Blue Springs and Shawnee Mission.
Blue Springs South Invitational
16 teams embark on Blue Springs for the South Invitational. There is no shortage of quality teams
Blue Pool: Nixa (15-1), Blue Springs (9-6), Park Hill South (11-5), Lee’s Summit (6-9)
Green Pool: St. Thomas Aquinas (23-1), St. Dominic (13-5-3), Park Hill (6-8), Blue Springs South (6-15)
Silver Pool: Fayetteville (AR) (20-2), Lee’s Summit West (10-5), St. Teresa’s Academy (7-9), Howell (7-9-4)
Jaguar Pool: Liberty North (14-2), Kickapoo (18-5), Central (5-4), Lee’s Summit North (8-5)
Bracket play is going to be bananas! It’s always a treat to see teams from all across the state come together for high-level action. Add in Arkansas and Kansas and we have the makings for a tremendous semi-final and championship round.
Jaycee Fixsen Jaycee Fixsen 5'11" | OH Nixa | 2022 State MO , Sydney Golden Sydney Golden 5'9" | S Nixa | 2022 State MO , Emma Conrad Emma Conrad 5'0" | DS/L Nixa | 2023 State MO , and the gang bring Nixa to town with a 15-1 record. We have them winning their pool. We will go with Park Hill South to finish second.
St. Thomas Aquinas, #1 in our KC Metro Power Rankings highlights the Green Pool. We count on them taking care of business and running through their pool. Ava Martin Ava Martin 5'10" | S Bishop Miege | 2024 State #77 Nation KS and Betsy Goodenow Betsy Goodenow 6'0" | RS St. Thomas Aquinas | 2023 State #92 Nation KS have been stellar offensively this fall. The setter tandem will keep things in motion. St. Dominic will finish second.
The Silver Pool will feature Fayetteville High School, which will be making the journey from Arkansas. They boast a 20-2 record. As a unit, they have 896 kills, led by Junior Brooke Rockwell’s 314. Fellow junior Madeline LaFata adds 204 of her own. Setter Kennedy Phelan spreads the ball around and owns 708 assists. We pick them to take care of business in their pool. Lee’s Summit West, behind Sydney Handel Sydney Handel 5'10" | OH Lee's Summit West | 2022 State MO will end up second.
Liberty North has the pieces to win the Jaguar Pool. We will keep with chalk and pick Kickapoo to finish second.
In bracket play, we will go chalk across the board with Nixa, Fayetteville, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Liberty North. How about Nixa over Liberty North and St. Thomas Aquinas over Fayetteville? The championship should be a good one and we will roll with St. Thomas Aquinas.
Janice Van Gorp Volleyball Classic
On the other side of the state line, more high-powered teams will gather for the annual competition. 16 teams to be exact, split up in 4 pools of 4. Let’s take a look and see how close or off we are in our picks.
Pool A: Blue Valley North (16-2), Olathe North (11-11), DeSoto (5-7), Shawnee Mission South (0-18)
Pool B: Mill Valley (15-3), St. James (12-6), Turner (0-7), Shawnee Mission West (0-17)
Pool C: HCA (21-0), Lawrence Free State (12-4), Lincoln Prep (9-4), Bonner Springs (7-9)
Pool D: Shawnee Mission Northwest (22-4), Blue Valley Northwest (9-8), Olathe South (4-9), Leavenworth (2-10)
Blue Valley North has been a pleasant surprise this season behind the play of freshman Logan Parks Logan Parks 5'11" | S Blue Valley North | 2025 State #8 Nation KS and sophomore Janelle Green Janelle Green 5'9" | S Blue Valley North | 2024 State #68 Nation KS . Senior Jasmine Dulan Jasmine Dulan 5'7" | OH Blue Valley North | 2022 State KS has been steady and a leader on the floor. They will run through their pool followed by Olathe North.
Mill Valley is another team playing extremely well and coming off a win over Olathe Northwest and a tough defeat to Lansing this week. Brylee Peterson Brylee Peterson 5'11" | RS Mill Valley | 2022 State KS leads the charge in the scoring category with her 107 kills. Sidney Kacsir Sidney Kacsir 5'6" | DS/L Mill Valley | 2023 State KS handles the action behind the block and paces the team with 163 digs. We will pick them to win the pool, followed by St. James.
Pool C is the interesting one for us. Heritage Christian is undefeated and earned a spot in our KC Metro Power Rankings this week. As good as they are, we think they suffer their first defeat of the year in pool action to Lawrence Free State. We’ll see if sophomore Rachel Van Gorp Rachel Van Gorp 5'9" | OH Heritage Christian | 2024 State #94 Nation KS , yes the tournament is named after her mom, a local volleyball legend who touched many lives. We will see if is ready to lead her team to victory and prove us wrong. If Van Gorp and Cy Rae Campbell Cy Rae Campbell 5'11" | MB Heritage Christian | 2024 State #45 Nation KS are own, it could get interesting. Free State has dynamic players themselves in Aubrey Duncan Aubrey Duncan 6'0" | MB Free State | 2023 State KS and Sawyer Thomsen Sawyer Thomsen 6'2" | MB Free State | 2023 State #145 Nation KS .
Wrapping up pool play we pick Tori Creason Tori Creason 5'9" | S Shawnee Mission NW | 2023 State KS and her Cougars to take first, followed by Blue Valley Northwest.
We will take Blue Valley North and Mill Valley to get to the finals. Even though they dropped a close one this week to Lansing, we think they are playing great volleyball right now and pick Mill Valley to win it all in a surprise pick.